I Used to Do That...

"When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning (complaining) all the day long." Psalm 32:3

The Psalmist is talking about an experience in his life. We are made of three parts; body, soul and spirit. The body is wonderfully made, the soul is still more wonderfully made and the spirit is made perfect, whole and complete at conversion. The soul, like the body, has experiences; both experience pain. If buried bitterness, harbored resentment, etc, remain in the soul, without forgiveness, the body suffers. The same concept occurs if we once were doing, saying and believing according to God’s Word, then stopped, we suffer. Complaining becomes a lifestyle and old age quickly takes over.

Life is full of questions. The Bible provides truthful answers to all questions pertaining to life (Matthew 7:7). God tells us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us (I Peter 5:7). God has not left us without answers. He has given us the Holy Bible as an instruction guide for life. It tells how to know God, follow Him and what God expects of us. The Bible instructs us on how we can have our sins forgiven, live an abundant-fulfilling life, and promises us an eternal home in heaven when we die. The Bible proclaims the love of God to us, His demonstration of that love and God’s desire to have a meaningful relationship with us through Jesus Christ.

God wants us to have Bible answers and He wants us to be able to understand His Word. God’s Holy Spirit, who dwells in every believer, promises to help us understand the Bible (John 14:26, II Timothy 3:16-17). We need the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds so we can find answers to our problems in God’s Word. God is the ultimate author of the Bible and the best way to understand any book is to ask the author. God promises wisdom and understanding to anyone who asks (James 1:5). We can find a lot of answers in the Bible, but even more than that, in those pages we can meet the ultimate answer to life, our Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ.

A pastor once told me he was fed up with people and their conflicts, complaining, controlling and laziness. He was discouraged and wished to change careers. When the pastor heard about Psalm 32:3, he said, “That’s what I have allowed to happen. I stopped speaking God’s Word and I started complaining. I became discouraged and depressed, not because of the lack I see in others, it was my belief about them.” It’s not the person or thing that defeats us; it is what we believe about them or it. Our attitude is the cause of our discouragement.

Moses was tired of the rebellion, strife and discontentment of the Israelite people during their first month in Kadesh. They complained against Moses and blamed him for bringing them into the wilderness where there was no water to drink or an abundant supply of food to eat; they wished to have died when the rest of their brothers died of the plague. God told Moses to speak to the rock and water will come forth.

Moses gathered the people around the rock and spoke, “Listen Rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?” Moses was angry toward the Israelites so instead of obeying God by speaking to the rock, he hit the rock twice. Because Moses did not believe God, dishonoring Him in front of them, Moses was not allowed to lead the people into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:9-12).

Both stories are examples of disobedience toward God and wrong believing which caused them to stop doing what works! God’s system of abundance is always the same; the Word of God going in our ears and must come out of our mouths (Romans 10:17). Paul explains that the Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your hearth (Romans 10:8). “The just (saved people) shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17.

Motivation to Keep Speaking Faith

1. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. This faith is the Holy Spirit faith which is the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham is receiving the promise of the Spirit through faith and experience (Galatians 3:14). God’s Word should stop being a promise and become real in our lives when mixed with faith. Faith and substance is the same, containing all provision of every promise. Substance is provision for humans, unlimited good. Faith thoughts spoken draw provision from substance. God has designed Himself to be subject to spoken faith because as we believe, it is done to us (Matthew 8:13). Deliberate, directed faith thoughts toward prosperity move on God’s substance and produces supernatural results.

2. We contain a power greater than us, and He is waiting for us to cast our cares on Him so that He perfects it, we are on our way to speaking ‘all things are possible’! We have what we say; every need it met; every desire is fulfilled; we can have anything we believe for!

Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit in me. I believe and receive. Your plan for me is to be satisfied and my youth renewed, always. Amen.